New Season in Film at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture

The Sheen Center for Thought & Culture, a project of the Archdiocese of New York, is emerging in the cultural landscape of New York as a collective of artistic expression that speaks directly to the issues of our time. Programming at The Sheen Center encompasses the performing arts, cultural discourse, and film. The Sheen Center approaches cinema, broadly, as the dominant art form of the day; and its film screenings, in particular, as occasions of cultural reflection through the lens of the Catholic imagination. It is with great anticipation, following the success of last fall’s screening of
HACKSAW RIDGE with Academy Award-winning director Mel Gibson, that the Sheen Center announces its new season in film.

Film at The Sheen Center launched this January with a screening of National Geographic’s most-watched series,
The Story of God with Morgan Freeman. Lori McCreary, who, in addition to this series, is also an executive producer for
Madame Secretary and President of the Producer’s Guild of America, was on hand for a post-screening discussion. It is followed by the well-timed
February 7 screening of
OUR LAST STAND, a film about an Assyrian-American School teacher from New York, who travels through Iraq and Syria with the intention of bringing greater awareness to the plight of persecuted Christians in the Middle East. The panel discussion, led by The Sheen Center’s Director of Film, Television and Mission Outreach, David DiCerto, will explore the topic of internal displacement and religious persecution from the distinct perspective of religious minorities in the region.

The Justice Film Festival’s first documentary of 2017,
A BRAVE HEART: The Lizzie Velasquez Story, will screen on
February 18. The film tells the story of a young girl suffering from a congenital disease who becomes the target of online bullying. The Sheen Center will open its doors to the young people of the Archdiocese of New York to discuss the moral imperative of responsible cyber communication and the dire implications of bullying, in all its forms.

March at The Sheen Center begins with it the already
sold out screening of acclaimed photographer Neil Leifer’s documentary,
NEARY’S: The Dream at the End of the Rainbow. It describes the quintessential immigrant success story of Jimmy Neary, from his humble beginnings in Ireland to the meteoric success of his now iconic restaurant. Later in the month, on
March 17, the one-hour docudrama,
PATRICK, directed by Pamela Mason Wagner and narrated by Liam Neeson and Gabriel Bryne, will be screened in honor of the Archdiocese’s patron saint, St. Patrick. All are encouraged to reserve tickets in advance.

The Sheen Center’s film screenings are curated and hosted by David DiCerto, Director of Film, Television and Mission Outreach. Mr. DiCerto consistently partners with innovative filmmakers who share The Sheen Center’s mission of reviving the conscience of our culture through informed dialogue and meaningful artistic encounter. Executive Director of The Sheen Center, Bill Reilly, who oversees all of The Sheen Center’s programming observes:

"David DiCerto has a very special talent to dissect a mainstream film or documentary's content and 'unpack' for an audience the Catholic/Christian message that may be lying there. Better still, he then knows how to shape thoughtful questions for distinguished filmmakers in our engaging, post-screening Q/A's. As a place for 'Thought & Culture', The Sheen Center is very fortunate to have him on staff, particularly in a city where such conversations rarely take place at all, let alone with intelligence and civility. We like being the 'new place' for such discourse, and Hollywood has taken notice, thanks to him."

For more information about upcoming film screenings or to learn more about The Sheen Center’s mission or performance arts calendar, please visit
sheencenter.org.